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The stories that matter on money and politics in the race for the White House
Joe Biden’s team said on Friday the US president would press on with his re-election bid despite calls by top Democrats for him to bow out after a disastrous debate performance against Donald Trump.
The campaign insisted Biden was still committed to a second debate with Trump on September 10, hours after the 81-year-old president reignited concerns about his age in Thursday night’s televised confrontation.
Biden’s campaign has rejected calls for him to step down for another Democrat to take his place, maintaining the president performed well in the face of Trump’s unsubstantiated claims and attacks.
The Biden team said Thursday was the US president’s best day of grassroots, or small-dollar, fundraising, since the start of his campaign, and circulated a memo arguing that he had “won” the debate by persuading independent and undecided voters.
But top Democratic lawmakers, donors and party insiders have been rattled by the president’s stumbling debate performance.
One Democratic party insider said after the debate that there was a “higher level of panic than I’ve seen or thought possible”.
“He confirmed our worst fears,” said another.
David Axelrod, a one-time senior adviser to former president Barack Obama, said on CNN that Biden had scored points on some policy matters, but added: “There are going to be discussions about whether he should continue.”
On Friday morning, a Biden campaign official said the president would hold a campaign rally in Raleigh, North Carolina that day, “riding the momentum of President Biden’s decisive win against Donald Trump”.